On May 31, the U.S. Department of Defense’s chief know-how officer, Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Heidi Shyu, offered Eric Evans with the Department of Defense (DoD) Medal for Distinguished Public Service. This award is the best honor given by the secretary of protection to personal residents for their important service to the DoD. Evans was chosen for his management as director of MIT Lincoln Laboratory and as vice chair and chair of the Defense Science Board (DSB).
“I’ve gotten to know Eric effectively within the final three years, and I enormously respect his management, proactiveness, imaginative and prescient, mind, and humbleness,” Shyu acknowledged in her remarks throughout the May 31 ceremony held on the laboratory. “Eric has a willingness and talent to confront and resolve essentially the most tough issues for nationwide safety. His distinguished public service will proceed to have invaluable impacts on the division and the nation for a long time to come back.”
During his tenure in each roles over greater than a decade, Evans has cultivated relationships on the highest ranges inside the DoD. Since entering into his position as laboratory director in 2006, he has suggested eight protection secretaries and 7 deputy protection secretaries. Under his management, the laboratory delivered superior capabilities for nationwide safety in a broad vary of know-how areas, together with cybersecurity, area surveillance, biodefense, synthetic intelligence, laser communications, and quantum computing.
Evans ensured that the laboratory addressed not solely current DoD priorities, but additionally rising and future threats. He foresaw the necessity for and established three new technical divisions protecting Cyber Security and Information Sciences, Homeland Protection, and Biotechnology and Human Systems. When the Covid-19 pandemic struck, he shortly pivoted the laboratory to help the nationwide response. To guarantee U.S. competitiveness in an ever-evolving protection panorama, he advocated for the modernization of main take a look at ranges, together with the Reagan Test Site for which the laboratory serves as scientific advisor, and secured funding for new state-of-the-art amenities such because the Compound Semiconductor Laboratory – Microsystem Integration Facility. He additionally strengthened ties with MIT campus on analysis collaborations to drive innovation and increase academic alternatives for getting ready the following technology of the DoD STEM workforce.
In parallel, Evans served on the DSB, the main board for offering science and know-how recommendation to DoD senior management. Evans served as DSB vice chair from 2014 to 2020 and chair since 2020. Over the years, Evans led or supported greater than 30 DSB research of direct significance to the DoD. Most notably, he initiated a brand new Strategic Options Permanent Subcommittee centered on figuring out programs and know-how to organize the nation for future protection wants.
“The medal is a wonderful and richly deserved recognition of Eric’s contributions to MIT and to national security,” stated Ian Waitz, MIT’s vp for analysis.
As Evans steps down from his position as Lincoln Laboratory director on July 1, he’ll transition to a professor of apply appointment on the MIT campus and can proceed to strengthen ties between the Laboratory and MIT campus and work with DoD leaders.